Related Stories

Breathing in fumes from petrol made lab rats more aggressive, a finding that has wide implications for urban pollution, according to a new study.

Cairo University researcher Amal Kinawy exposed three groups of rats to either clean air, vapour from leaded petrol or vapour from unleaded petrol.

Dissection of the rats showed that those exposed to petrol, had big fluctuations in a key group of neurotransmitters - chemicals used for exchanging messages between neurons - in three areas of the brain.